E.J. Thurmond has received plenty of recognition for his outstanding senior lacrosse season at Holy Innocents’

The biggest accolade for the recent HIES graduate came in early May, when he was selected to the U.S. Lacrosse All-American team.

“It’s a great accomplishment,” Thurmond said. “I’m just happy. It shows all the hard work paid off and how great training helps. It means a lot, because it’s something that I worked hard for.”

The selection to the All-America team is the biggest honor of a number of accolades that Thurman has received. He was also named to the Class A-AAAAA All-State team and the All-Area 1A-AAAAA squad.

A defenseman, Thurmond had 50 ground balls, 23 caused turnovers, one goal and two assists to help lead Holy Innocents’ to a 16-3 record and a berth in the A-AAAAA state quarterfinals in 2013.

“It was a great season,” Thurmond said. “We got great production from our midfield and our attackmen. We had a great goalie and a great defense this year. It was the best season that Holy Innocents’ has ever had. The next best season was an 11-win season and this year, we had 16, so we did great this year. Even though we fell short in the playoffs, I’m still proud of what our team did. Holy Innocents’ lacrosse is moving up.”

“E.J. is our third high school All-American, following Davis Lukens and Darius Bowling,” Thornton said. “Beyond his stats, E.J. was the most dominating defenseman in our classification, neutralizing the opponents’ top scorer game in and game out.”

Thurmond will now be moving on to Jacksonville, choosing the NCAA Division I school over Mercer, Tampa and Marist College.

“Jacksonville has a great location,” Thurmond said of the Florida city. “Jacksonville is a great school and coming from a smaller school like Holy Innocents’, I kind of wanted to go to a small college. Jacksonville is about 4,000 students and the culture in Jacksonville is great — it’s like a family.”

Thurmond will play in the Champion All-American Showcase tournament in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., July 25 through 27.

*We welcome your comments on the stories and issues of the day and seek to provide a forum for the community to voice opinions. All comments are subject to moderator approval before being made visible on the website but are not edited. The use of profanity, obscene and vulgar language, hate speech, and racial slurs is strictly prohibited. Advertisements, promotions, spam, and links to outside websites will also be rejected. Please read our terms of service for full guides